Kalikay's Special
by PaperKat
Summary: Companion to Starhawk's First Series. Ashely, Andros and Zhane go to Kalikay's and get a little help from some other Rangers.


KaliKay's Special

By PaperKat

Natani often found herself indulging Targa when he had the urge to go out for the evening. Normally that would consist of dinner at any of the local restaurants on Eltare, but lately KaliKay's had been the distraction of choice, and Natani was pretty sure she knew why.

Though they had a policy to not interfere, Eltarens had always had a certain affinity for Earth and Targa was no exception. But of all the wonderfully eccentric things that Earth had to offer nothing had quite caught the Green Ranger's attention like the Yellow Kerovan Ranger.

True, they hadn't known at the time that she had left Earth for her new home on KO-35. The last that they had known she had declared herself 'Ashley of Earth' in the Aquitarian ceremony after Dark Specter's defeat. But that hadn't mattered, for all they had seen that night had been a distressed Ranger in need of support. And by her efforts to loose herself in the lights, sounds and drinks, it hadn't been too hard to guess that it had been her heart that had been in need of healing. It wasn't until later that Jenkarta had informed them that Ashley was now one of the new Kerovan Rangers.

Targa never divulged what he and Ashley had talked about, if they had talked at all, as they had danced, with or without music, for what had seemed like hours. Natani had been concerned that Targa's tender heart had already been lost to the obviously distraught girl. He had the unfortunate habit of always falling for the, as Earthers would say, 'damsel in distress'.

She hadn't really thought of it as interfering when she had informed Ashley's brother, mistaking him for one of her teammates, of her activities. Natani had been just as concerned for the young Ranger's well being as Targa had been, but she knew that if Targa had been allowed to continue comforting Ashley there would have been numerous trips to KO-35 to 'see how she was doing'.

For the third time in less than a month, Natani and Targa walked into KaliKay's, and Targa performed his cursory once over. This time, however, his appraisal of the room stopped cold when he saw a certain blonde highlighted brunette. Natani had to give him credit, Targa kept walking to their usual table, but once there he choose the seat facing the bar. Taking pity on him, Natani choose the seat next to him so that he could have a clear view, and he wouldn't have to pretend that he was listening when she spoke.

For the better part of an hour, little was spoken between them, but far from being bored Natani was intrigued by the scene unfolding before them. Ashley was not alone at the bar that lined one whole wall of the room, but she might as well have been. Natani knew the two young men that were with her by their reputation only. 

Andros was nearly as famous on Eltare as Tommy Oliver because of his restless pursuit of Zordon, his involvement in the defeat of Dark Specter and even his widely publicized relation to the ex-Princess of Evil. Zhane had always been his pale shadow.

She grinned at the idea of the Silver Ranger being called a shadow. It wasn't a very fitting description after all, since more often then not, Zhane had the spotlight on him. He was nearly as good as Jenkarta at avoiding scrutiny by being the center of attention. Though the Eltaren Red Ranger preferred that the attention that was directed at him be of the respectful nature not of the comical.

Right now the Silver Ranger didn't appear to be any different off camera than on. He was talking wildly to his teammates with lots of hand gestures and facial expressions. Andros on his right looked somewhere between amused and annoyed. A couple of times Zhane would come out of his seat, where he was facing towards his leader, and the Red Ranger was always ready to pull him back down. Usually by yanking downward on Zhane's shirt. Ashley on the other hand only seemed to be listening with half an ear.

She must have been following Zhane's one sided conversation somewhat, because several times Zhane would turn to her while he talked, and she was always ready with a quick smile, but as soon as Zhane's attention turned back to Andros she would slide her gaze over to the dance floor. 

It was pretty easy to tell that Ashley really wanted to be out there dancing. Her feet on the ledge under her bounced to the rhythm of whatever was playing and unlike her companions, which were in Ranger uniforms, she was dressed for it. A couple of times Natani thought that Ashley would go out there by herself, but she always seemed to stop herself and try and return her attention to Zhane and Andros.

The Yellow Ranger's eyes were drawn back to the dance floor and Ashley's two teammates shared a joke and she smiled faintly, but didn't turn towards them, neither seemed to notice. It was tough, Natani supposed, trying to fit into an already established friendship. 

"I'm going to talk to her," Targa said without waiting for a response.

Natani blinked once before raising to follow her teammate. Jakarta had allowed them to come to KaliKay's alone this time, but only if they stayed together. At times like these Natani wished that their leader had never heard of the 'buddy system'. 

As they approached, she noticed that the first of the trio to see them was Zhane, which she found to be odd. She had thought that the Silver Ranger had been too caught up in his story telling to have noticed them. When he made eye contact and tilted his head in greeting Andros immediately looked in her direction. His sharp hazel eyes quickly scanned them and then acknowledged them with a nod of his own. Ashley did not see them coming. 

"You look to be in higher spirits than the last time I saw you."

Ashley started and whirled around. She seemed puzzled for a moment then she recognized Targa. She blushed slightly and stole a quick glance at Andros and Zhane from under her lowered lashes. As she pushed her hair back from her face, her teammates looked interestingly on when she stumbled for her reply.

"Yeah, things are... better now." She told him quietly and Natani watched in amusement as the two young men leaned in to catch her words. 

"Or at least not as bad as they were." Targa added as he eyed her drink critically. 

Ashley blushed even more and she pushed her glass slowly and deliberately away from her. Natani was surprised to see the Yellow Ranger avoid making eye contact with either of her teammates though they both seemed to be trying to catch her attention. Had she not told them of her misadventures, or was she just embarrassed to have it brought up again, in front of her leader no less?

"I certainly hope that's something tame. I'd hate to see you in the same condition..."

"Would you like to dance?" Ashley interrupted quickly as she bolted out of her seat. Natani couldn't help but smile at the delight on Targa's face as Ashley dragged the Green Ranger out to the floor with her. "I've been here for over an hour and haven't gotten to dance even once." 

"Can we actually move to music this time? Not that I'm complaining..."

Still smiling at Targa's obvious joy, Natani took the seat that Ashley had just vacated. When she turned to talk to the two remaining Kerovan Rangers she was not too surprised to see Andros scowling. Ranger leaders were always so over protective of their teammates, but Zhane's concerned look gave her pause. Did he think that Targa would harm their friend? Maybe he was just as concerned as she was that it was too soon after Ashley's heartache for her to get involved again.

Natani didn't want to interfere, not really any way, but she didn't want Targa ending up heartsick for a girl that wasn't ready to return his affections. What would it hurt just to find out a bit more about Ashley? 

"She's definitely a different person when she has her wits about her." Natani told them, hoping to maybe get an idea of how well Ashley was handling her sorrow. And just to let them know of her friend's honorable intentions she added. "Targa has been worried about her ever since that night."

"Why should he be worried about her?" Andros asked calmly, if not a bit coolly.

The question confused her. Did he not know? Maybe Ashley hadn't told them what had happened, but why wouldn't she? That's what teammates were for, to help you through the tough times. Maybe he was just being protective of Ashley's privacy in not giving away too much.

"A broken heart can be notoriously hard to heal, especially one that had been broken as badly as hers was," she told them sincerely, trying to convey her honest concern. 

Andros went as still as a picture and Zhane just frowned sadly at the dance floor where he had stayed focused since Ashley had left and shook his head. They really didn't know! How was that possible?! As devastated as Ashley had been, even she, a complete stranger had known that she had been hurting. How could her teammates have missed that?

"Targa knew how vulnerable she was that night and was very glad that her brother and her _other_ teammate came to take care of her," Natani couldn't help the reproachful sound of voice. 

It was just inconceivable to her that neither one of them had noticed Ashley's heartache. Natani swung her gaze back over to dance floor were her teammate and theirs were laughing at their inability to stay in rhythm together.

"But now that she seems to be on the mend..."

"She's taken." Andros and Zhane said simultaneously and with force. Both had identical unreadable masks in place when she turned back around blinking rapidly.

"Really?" She asked, both surprised and unbelieving. "I hadn't noticed. And neither has anyone else." 

Natani stood and walked away not wanting to cause a scene. Torn between telling Targa to leave Ashley be because of this mythical love interest, and telling him to go for it because of the lack of interest the unseen love interest seemed to have, Natani returned to her table. She didn't want to interfere, but maybe she should. Targa didn't need this kind of trouble, he could find enough on his own.

Natani noted the marked improvement of the Red and Silver Ranger's attention to their teammate after she left. Andros wouldn't look anywhere but at the laughing and dancing pair. Zhane was leaning over Andros' shoulder talking to him, but also looking at the dance floor. At one point, Andros' face took on a fierce look and from the corner of her eye, Natani saw Targa stumble and then fall.

Shocked, she realized as Zhane gave his leader a disapproving scowl and hit him lightly on the shoulder that Andros had actually caused her friend to fall. She had almost forgotten that Kerovans were rather adept at telekinesis. Standing up, intending to let the Red Ranger know exactly what she thought of him assaulting her teammate, it suddenly became clear to her. The Kerovan's Red Ranger was the love interest. But as soon as the idea hit her Natani wanted to dismiss it.

Andros had shown no signs of being interested in Ashley in the time that she had been watching. In fact Ashley had shown no interest either, except for her reluctance to leave Zhane and Andros' company as limited as it had been. If the two of them were conducting some kind of love affair it was a strange one.

Maybe that was the problem. Maybe the love affair was over and now the two of them were dealing with trying to be friends and teammates afterwards. Natani sat back down. She did not envy them in this. She had seen first hand how unsuccessful romances within a Ranger team put a strain on the group.

Natani's interest peaked again when Zhane forcibly made Andros retain his seat by pushing his leader back now. Zhane took three steps to the dance floor, and by some miracle of precognition turned back to Andros the same moment that the Red Ranger had stood up to follow. With a stern look and a point of his finger, Zhane made Andros sit reluctantly down again. 

Zhane quickly made his way over to Targa and Ashley, but instead of interrupting their poor attempts at dancing like she assumed he would, Zhane joined them. Ashley seemed apprehensive at first, keeping her eyes on Targa and shrinking away from her teammate, but then Zhane said something that made Targa blush shyly and Ashley burst into laughter.

Before long the three of them had struck up a lively conversation despite the loud music and with a quick glance over to Andros it was clear that he liked this even less than he had liked Targa and Ashley dancing alone. This carried on for a few more songs until something very fast and hard started to play. Ashley jumped up and down enthusiastically and tugged at Zhane's hands as she said something to Targa. With what looked like a relieved grin, Targa left the two of them on the floor together and made his way back to their table.

"They're quite a pair, aren't they?" Targa said nodding his head towards the dance floor.

Natani was inclined to agree. Whatever dance they were performing, it was obvious it wasn't the first time they had done it. The movements were highly synchronized, if either one missed a turn or a hand placement it would have resulted in one of them crashing to the floor. Natani wondered if either of them had been as good a dancer before they had become Rangers. Some patrons recognized the couple and started to cheer them on, giving Ashley and Zhane more and more room to work in.

When the Yellow and Silver Rangers finished they took their bows. Zhane took all the cheers as his due, smiling dazzling at the on lookers, and while Ashley's face held too much color to tell if she was blushing, she did seem to be embarrassed by how much attention they had drawn. 

Natani noticed that before the applause had finished, Zhane had pulled Ashley to him and whispered into her ear. She darted a glance to where Andros was sulking, very un-leader like, into his drink, not paying them any attention. Ashley nodded once and the pair split apart, quickly making their way over to him. 

Surely sensing danger, Andros lifted his head just in time to see them coming. Without preamble, he jumped to his feet and tried to ward them off with his arms out stretched, but this only gave Ashley and Zhane something to latch on to. It didn't look to Natani that Andros was trying that hard to get free anyway, as they each took an arm and pulled him out with them.

"Well, I think that my job here is done."

Natani shifted her gaze from the slightly awkward looking dancing trio to her teammate. Targa was wearing a self-satisfied grin as he leaned back in his chair. She had a suspicion that her Green Ranger knew more than he had been letting on all these months about these Kerovan Rangers and their rather strange personal lives. Natani had forgotten that Targa's other special talent, besides rescuing 'damsels in distress', was playing 'matchmaker'.

"So what's their story?" Natani asked.

Targa grinned and shook his head, "It won't come true if I tell you."

"That's wishes, Targa, not gossip."

Even with constant badgering Targa would not tell her what was going on with the Kerovan Rangers. With a huff, Natani returned to just watching the trio and trying to figure it out on her own. 

__

It wouldn't really be interfering if I asked Justin, Natani reasoned to herself when she ordered a new drink and watched her friend and teammate smile dreamily at the dance floor.

End


End file.
